Electric conductor for street-railways



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. M. PERKINS. ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR FOR STREET RAILWAYS.

- Patented Sept. 2, 1890.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets- Sheet 2.

L. M. PERKINS. I ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR FOR STREET RAILWAYS.

vNo. 435,447. Patented Sept. 2, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

LUTHER M. PERKINS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR FOR STREET-RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 435,447, dated September 2, 1890.

Application filed October 17, 1889. Serial No. 327,329. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, LUTHER M. PERKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain-new and useful Improvement in Electric Conductors for theMotors of Street- Railroad Cars, of which the following is a full,

' clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in electric conductors and combined means for transmitting the current therefrom to the motors employed for propelling street-railroad cars, and has for its object to protect underground conducting-wires from the weather and to prevent leaking and grounding of the current. I

It consists in features of novelty hereinafter claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a longitudinal sectional elevation of a portion of an electric conductor and com bined transmitter constructed and arranged according to my invention, and Fig. 2 a plan thereof; Fig. 3, a corresponding view to Fig. 1, to an enlarged scale broken away, and Fig. 4 a plan of the same; Fig. 5,a sectional plan, and Fig. 6 a transverse section, taken, respectively, on lines 5 5 and 6 6 in Fig. 3; Fig. 7, a plan of a portion of the conducting-wire; and Fig. 8, a cross-section of the conduit, showing the conducting-wire and contact-plate in position therein.

Like letters of reference denote like parts in all the figures.

(it represents the electric conducting-wire, which is insulated by a covering b of some suitable non-conducting material, and laid there- .with between longitudinal timbers c c, (or

other material,) embedded or fixed along a conduit or other provision therefor (not shown) beneath the ground. Above thetimbers c, at a suitable distance therefrom, are arranged longitudinal timbers d, which are normally m aintained parallel to the timbers c by intervening rubber tubes 6, (or springs,) arranged at suitable distances apart, each tube 6 having end flanges, which are secured, respectively,

to the timbers c and d by clamp-plates f, or

otherwise, so as to effect a perfectly tight joint with the timbers c and cl, and thereby prevent the access of water or dirt to the tubes 6. Along the up er surface of the timbers d are laid fiatwise and secured a series of bars or strips g, of copper, iron, or other conducting material, having fixed to their under sides the upper ends of rods or wires 71, of copper or other conducting material, which depend through the timbers (1, tubes e, and timbers c to within a short distance of the conducting-wire a, a portion a of the latter beneath each rod It being denuded of its insulating covering b, and thereby exposed, as shown in Fig. 3. The bars or strips g are of any suitable length and shaped diagonally at the ends, a short space or clearance being left between the adjacent ends of succeeding bars 9. Owing to the variations of temperature, and the consequent elongation and shortening of the conducting-Wire a, the exposed portions (1 of the conducting-wire a are liable to become displaced from beneath the rods h, which are at fixed points throughout the bedtimbers, and in order to prevent such displacement I form a series of bends a Fig. 7, at suitable intervals in the conducting-wire a, whereby its expansion and contraction, instead of being cumulative throughout its entire length, is divided up among the respect ive lengths between the bends at.

In operation the trolley or contact-roller t, from which the electric current derived from the conductor passes to the propelling mechanism of the car, as in the case of an overhead wire, rides on the bars or strips 9, passing from one to the other successively, and in so doing depresses the timber d beneath the tread of the roller 1', as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, thus lowering and causing each rod h successively to make contact with the correspondingly-exposed portion a, of the conducting-wire a, and at the same time compressing each rubber tube a until on the passage of the rollert' beyond a rod h the timber d is returned to its normal level by the recoil of the compressed tube 6, (or springs,) and the contact thereby broken between the said rod and the conducting-wire a. By this arrangement the electric current is only transmitted from the conducting-wire a to the roller 'i through each bar or strip g independently and successively during the transit of the roller '5; but as the latter in passing from one bar to the next across the intervening space remains in contact with both bars the current IGO is thereby rendered continuous from the roller z to the motor of the car.

By this invention the conducting-wire a, being insulated and confined between the longitudinal timbers c c, is effectually protected from Weather and leakage of the current therefrom prevented. Furthermore, as the current can only pass from the conducting-Wire a, during the passage of the trolley or roller '1' along any two of the bars or strips g, when these are depressed grounding of the current is practically prevented.

I claim" as my invention 1. In an electric railway, a trolley-track having a continuous and yielding bed-timber for the contact-rail, a contactrrail mounted thereon, said rail consisting of aseries of separate bars or stripsof conducting material having diagonally-cut ends and provided withcon: tact-posts, and an insulated continuous electric conductor having the insulation removed at intervals, whereby electrical connection Will be established with the contact-rail when the rail is depressed,substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The combination, with an'insulated electrical conductor having the insulation removed at intervals, of spring contact-posts adapted to make contact with the exposed portions of the conductor, said conductorhaving expansion and contraction loops or bends at intervals throughout its length, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 11th day of October, 1889.

LUTHER M. PERKINS.

Witnesses:

J. L. IIORNSBY, J. W. CROOKES. 

